Behind every successful film, trailer, commercial or video is a successful editor who has managed to make the visual and emotional connect between scenes and characters seamless.
Editors sift through hours of footage and select and prune what is pertinent to the subject and are a very important part of any visual project. Often editors are the unsung heroes whose work remains invisible as their work is not as tangible as cinematography, music, art or acting. Shah, based in Kochi, has been working as a video editor for the past 12 years having honed his talent working in national commercials, short films, documentaries, film trailers, music albums and wedding albums like the work he did for Dulquer Salmaan’s video wedding album.
What has been a recognition of his talent is that he will be handling the editing works of three Hollywood movies — Depraved, The Wake and Turvey Town. Many people would kill for an opportunity to directly work in a Hollywood project and this has been the ultimate dream come true for Shah.
Shah excitedly says, “Each film has a different genre and I will be working for the comedy film Turvey Town first whose director is Noel Duffy. The movie is based on the original play Comparisons by Frank Hollingsworth. Noel was highly impressed with my cuts, grading and colouring and he called me and directly posted me as the editor of this movie.
“Since Noel himself is an editor he understood the quality of my work and gave me the colour grading and editing works of his film. The script was sent to me and I could not believe it at first! The pre-works of the movie are almost over and the shoot will start soon. I am looking forward to this project with high expectations and excitement. Actually, I have received the storyboard of all the three films and I have time to study before starting the project in March. The only problem I initially faced was the language barrier when I spoke to them on Skype since they are Irish but now that has also been smoothened out.”
Shah adds, “In Hollywood, it is the talent that matters and not the individual. In Mollywood, talent is sometimes not recognised but connections and money matter more.”
Starting off working for a studio in hometown Manjeri, Shah has now graduated to owning a studio of his own. Another project he holds dear to his heart is the editing works of four episodes of a travel show Car and Country for the Fox Channel on which he spent three months.
The biggest advantage of Shah’s job is that he can afford to sit in the confines of his studio at home and work on any project from across the world. Right now the world is his oyster!
